Life in the Carpathian bush

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bush tucker

A 78 year old man from Prievidza (a town in the west of Slovakia) has died in hospital a week after being attacked by a stag. Apparently, it was a spontaneous attack as the man tended his orchard – the stag charged and skewered him with its antlers. More can be read here – noviny.sk – Stag Kills Man

Deaths from stag attacks are relatively rare, usually only one every so many years. Most often they’re during rutting season when people approach stags because they’re just standing still and not running away (which is because their brains are addled by rampant hormones). My kids and I were charged by one in the forest several years back and we had to hide behind a tree while it went berserk. 99.99% of the time the stag just flees though.

I caught this herd of Red Deer (only part of which is in the photo) as I was walking up the hill to the forest today. I found it interesting how each section of the herd was ‘segregated’ – the hinds (out of shot), the fawns, the hinds, the stag, and then the young bucks.

As I was looking for a place to put my trail cam, i followed them into the forest to see where their main entry/exit point was. The noise of a herd of red deer crashing through thick brush has to be experienced to be understood. A truck wouldn’t be louder. Also, as it’s still rutting season, I have to be a bit wary around stags as they can attack – they’ve killed a couple of people here over the last few years. My kids and I were charged by one we stumbled across in the forest years back and we had to hide behind a tree. During the rut they’re just bundles of hormones and adrenaline and testosterone and muscle with an immense rack of antlers at the front. Their main activity during this period is standing out in the open, easy pickings for hunters, bellowing “Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough” at the top of their lungs, for several weeks.

Last year we had a historic mushroom season. Edible and other fungii grew in unbelievable abundance from the beginning of summer until the start of winter. however, this year is not the same. There are virtually no mushrooms about and it has been forecasted that there won’t be. This is due to two factors – last year it rained all summer and also the fungii basically spored themselves out. it will take years for them to recover in number and strength.

This parasol mushroom (Macrolepiota procera) stood alone where last year there were hundreds.